You don't have to go hard scifi to find scientifically literate ship descriptions. While it is pretty fantasy-like in plot and many other aspects (lots of terraforming fails), Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos are pretty accurate ship-wise. The Consul's ship is a series of decks around a central ladder well, and down is down, ie the direction opposite the main rocket's thrust. The spin ships don't get a lot of deep decriptions, but the Archangel class courier ships in the third and fourth books, Endymion and Rise of Endymion, are also pretty gnarly. It travels at thrusts exceeding 100 gravities, which liquifies its occupants. Then they are ressurected with the help of a parasitic lifeform. Mas gnarles, homes. I also enjoyed the slow progression of thrust technology in the Red Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson. Starts at fuel rockets, where we are today, and eventually progresses to ion drives. Travel times are actually pretty accurate, depending on orbits.